Vanessa Martinez Professor Sands February 7, 2021 Culturally Reflective Instruction Observing Culturally Responsive Teaching (Videos) Culturally Responsive Pedagogy has called my attention a lot in respect to my own teaching and reflecting on areas where I can improve and be sure to be better prepared. Having the opportunity to view other classes and specifically searching for CRP was role reversal since I have only been observed recently and not had time, or taken the time, to observe other teachers. The two videos I saw provided great examples of excellent teaching, however in very different ways. The first video I watched was from Edutopia titled “Building Empathy through Community Projects” and the second video was a Science Lesson from Sarah Jarrard on “Radiation, Convection, and Conduction.” As I went through the rubrics, I tried to envision my own teaching as well to help me better understand. The rubrics were divided by: Instruction, Classroom Environment, and Planning and Preparation. Although I could not observe the planning and preparation end from the video side, I was able to observe a few areas where the teachers excelled. An example of this is in the first video, “Building Empathy through Community Projects” I noticed that one of the main emotions that showed CRP was empathy. A student in their grade who had a disability causing him to have a hard time walking from one end of the school to the other was at the center of a community project. There was also inclusivity since students had the choice to sign-up and work together, both boys and girls, and they built a chair together. Another major point was community outreach through the banner with advertisements from local businesses. This was mostly student lead with their ideas taken into consideration, including a hoverboard, and students felt they had an important task. Students had a wonderful opportunity to work together and see their work be essential in their school to provide their peers with an equal opportunity to go through the school. Although this was a fantastic way to involve the students and one teacher, I wondered how we can involve other classes to get more school involvement. I also wondered how safe it would be to have the hoverboard attached to the lawn chair in the hallway, although it was a wonderful idea. The second video from the 6th grade science class went into more depth on the curriculum being taught as opposed to emotional and community outreach. However, the lesson also had elements of CRP. Inclusivity in the classroom was evident having a special needs student who has both a teacher's aid and ASL interpreter in the classroom. The student was seated in the front closer to where the experiments were being done and closer to the board where the definitions were given. A formal curriculum was applied through standards with a SWBAT statement. I wondered how other students and even the direct teacher connected with the student who was already being assisted by two other adults in the room and how I may connect with students who will also stand out due to their classroom modifications. I think because the science lesson was longer, I was able to provide more feedback and questions, however both videos did leave me wondering how I could apply CRP in the High School level and specifically in Spanish. To start off with some feedback the science experiments were too far for some students to fully appreciate, maybe having more than one pair conduct experiments or have one per table and have group discussions to create a hypothesis would have been better. I heard a lot about students doing writing or a paper and even reading articles in a science class is fantastic. Students were exposed to various examples in class for each definition and having to draw their interpretation of the experiment definitely Vanessa Martinez Professor Sands February 7, 2021 Culturally Reflective Instruction Observing Culturally Responsive Teaching (Videos) helped with retention. Students also used their prior knowledge when referencing the word "radiation." Teacher also had students connect to past units. At the end, the teacher talked about real-life examples and worked in groups, which was fantastic to involve more students who might be more shy to participate. Both videos honestly provided me with great examples of how to get empathy across in a hands-on fashion as well as how to properly and efficiently allow for students to deduce information and retain vocabulary but neither lesson provided me with the multicultural courageous conversations I was hoping for. How can I prepare for these conversations by providing a space in the curriculum to have a natural flow? How can I use Spanish to connect with my students' cultures and create social change within the classroom?
